Richard J. Kuhn

Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees

Current Research Interests:

Our research focuses on understanding the biology of viruses that infect humans. Specifically, my lab is interested in viruses that contain a lipid bilayer membrane and contain plus strand RNA as their genetic material. These viruses are grouped in the Togaviridae and Flaviviridae families; some representative members include Sindbis, Ross River and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus for Togaviruses, and yellow fever, dengue, West Nile and hepatitis C virus for the Flaviviruses. Viruses within these two groups pose significant risks to large segments of the population, and methods for controlling infection and disease are few. Our goal is to understand all aspects of their replication cycle at the molecular level by integrating techniques from molecular genetics, biochemistry and structural biology.

Selected Publications:

Perera, R., Khaliq, M., Kuhn, R. J. 2008. Closing the door on flaviviruses: Entry as a target for antiviral drug design. Antiviral Res. in press.

Chang, W. S., Shang, H., Perera, R. M., Lok, S. M., Sedlak, D., Kuhn, R. J., Lee, G. U. 2008. Rapid detection of dengue virus in serum using magnetic separation and fluorescence detection. Analyst. 133: 233-240.

Yu, I. M., Zhang, W., Holdaway, H. A., Li, L., Kostyuchenko, V. A., Chipman, P. R., Kuhn, R. J., Rossmann, M. G., Chen, J. 2008. Structure of the immature dengue virus at low pH primes proteolytic maturation. Science. 319: 1834-1837.

Lok, S. M., Kostyuchenko, V., Nybakken, G. E., Holdaway, H. A., Battisti, A. J., Sukupolvi-Petty, S., Sedlak, D., Fremont, D. H., Chipman, P. R., Roehrig, J. T., Diamond, M. S., Kuhn, R. J., Rossmann, M. G. 2008. Binding of a neutralizing antibody to dengue virus alters the arrangement of surface glycoproteins. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 15: 312-317.

Patkar, C. G., Kuhn, R. J. 2008. Yellow fever virus NS3 plays an essential role in virus assembly independent of its known enzymatic functions. J Virol. 82: 3342-3352.

Warrier, R., Linger, B. R., Golden, B. L., Kuhn, R. J. 2008. Role of Sindbis Virus Capsid Protein Region Ii in Nucleocapsid Core Assembly and Encapsidation of Genomic Rna. J Virol. 82: 4461-4470.

Mayuri, Geders, T. W., Smith, J. L., Kuhn, R. J. 2008. Role for conserved residues of sindbis virus nonstructural protein 2 methyltransferase-like domain in regulation of minus-strand synthesis and development of cytopathic infection. J Virol. 82: 7284-7297.

Li, L., Lok, S. M., Yu, I. M., Zhang, Y., Kuhn, R. J., Chen, J., Rossmann, M. G. 2008. The flavivirus precursor membrane-envelope protein complex: structure and maturation. Science. 319: 1830-1834.

Perera, R., Kuhn, R. J. 2008. Structural proteomics of dengue virus. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 11: 369-377.

Bera, A. K., Kuhn, R. J., Smith, J. L. 2007. Functional characterization of cis and trans activity of the Flavivirus NS2B-NS3 protease. J Biol Chem. 282: 12883-12892.

Boudko, S. P., Kuhn, R. J., Rossmann, M. G. 2007. The coiled-coil domain structure of the Sin Nombre virus nucleocapsid protein. J Mol Biol. 366: 1538-1544.

Kim, H. Y., Kuhn, R. J., Patkar, C., Warrier, R., Cushman, M. 2007. Synthesis of dioxane-based antiviral agents and evaluation of their biological activities as inhibitors of Sindbis virus replication. Bioorg Med Chem. 15: 2667-2679.

Navaratnarajah, C. K., Kuhn, R. J. 2007. Functional characterization of the Sindbis virus E2 glycoprotein by transposon linker-insertion mutagenesis. Virology. 363: 134-147.

Patkar, C. G., Jones, C. T., Chang, Y. H., Warrier, R., Kuhn, R. J. 2007. Functional requirements of the yellow fever virus capsid protein. J Virol. 81: 6471-6481.

van der Schaar, H. M., Rust, M. J., Waarts, B. L., van der Ende-Metselaar, H., Kuhn, R. J., Wilschut, J., Zhuang, X., Smit, J. M. 2007. Characterization of the early events in dengue virus cell entry by biochemical assays and single-virus tracking. J Virol. 81: 12019-12028.

Zhang, Y., Kaufmann, B., Chipman, P. R., Kuhn, R. J., Rossmann, M. G. 2007. Structure of immature West Nile virus. J Virol. 81: 6141-6145.